Tens of thousands of people crowded into Tel Aviv’s Habima Square yesterday evening to protest against the government’s planned changes to Israel’s judicial system, which include measures to curtail the powers of the Supreme Court to intervene in administrative decisions and to strike down legislation government, and also dominance of the committee that select’s judges. According to various estimates, the demonstrators numbered about 80,000, but numbers were very difficult to gauge because the demonstration spilled onto adjoining streets. Demonstrations were also held in Jerusalem and Haifa. About 1,000 people demonstrated outside the president’s residence in Jerusalem calling on President Isaac Herzog to intervene.
The demonstration was organized by the Movement for Quality of Government in Israel and other protest groups under the slogan "Fighting for Democracy".
One of the speakers at the Tel Aviv demonstration was Ora Peled, a reserve naval officer, and the first woman to complete a naval officer training course. "As a child, I dreamt of being a pilot, but that was dream that could not have come true before the High Court of Justice made its decision in the case of Alice Miller when I was in grade nine, and thanks to that ruling I could apply for the Israel Air Force pilot’s course. My dream became possible.
"I wasn’t accepted for the pilot’s course, but I was accepted for the first naval officer’s course opened up for women. That was thanks to a girl called Hila Shahar, who also petitioned the High Court of Justice, and the IDF acceded to her wish without the need for a court ruling. I don’t even want to imagine what my life would have been like without these two court cases; probably completely different."
Former minister of justice Tzipi Livni said in her speech at the demonstration, "Elections do not confer the power to destroy democracy itself. We shall stop you and we shall not compromise, because democracy in Israel, our freedom and our rights, are not political merchandise."
Avi Himi, chairperson of the Israel Bar Association and another speaker at the demonstration, said, "The so-called reform that they are trying to force upon us threatens to poison Israeli democracy," while former Supreme Court judge told the demonstration, "We are at the beginning of a new era in which there is a new definition of democracy, not democracy based on values but an attenuated democracy that rests entirely on ‘the will of the voter’ and no longer gives any weight to other basic democratic values. We are at a fateful hour for the moral future of the State of Israel, and with legal means we shall do everything possible to defend the values on which our lives in this land rest."
Some demonstrators attempted to block the Ayalon Highway, the main artery through Tel Aviv, but the police kept the road open. No other infringements of public order were reported.
Among the participants in the demonstration was a group of technology workers. The leader of their protest, Tamir Ronen, told "Globes", "If there’s an override clause, there’s no separation of powers. If there’s no separation of powers, there’s a dictatorship. If there’s a dictatorship, there’s no high-tech. If there’s no high-tech, there’s no 15% of GDP, no 25% of income tax revenue, and no 54% of Israel’s exports."
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on January 15, 2023.
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